| Author | Message | ||
     John_l_probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.208.48.94 |
Short Review: A monumental bag of the most boring old toss. Honestly – it’s shit. Long review: Who would have though Dario Argento would have ended up so desperate for ideas he would need to rip off Kenny Everett? His apparently ‘eagerly and long awaited’ – probably by about three people at least two of whom I would imagine aren’t allowed to leave their special rooms surrounded by brightly coloured soft bouncy objects - follow up to Suspiria & Inferno is such a tedious waste of time it’s hard to believe this man was once lauded as the Italian Hitchcock. The opening titles, while more reminiscent of the worst of Charles Band or an above-average feature on The Horror Channel, are still bound to evoke some nostalgia amongst the true Euro-Horror fans out there with names like Asia Argento, Coralina Cataldi Tassoni, Udo Kier, Sergio Stivaletti & Claudio Simonetti. But anyone with any fondness for the good old days of Italian horror is advised to stop watching once Argento’s director’s credit has faded from the screen. What follows is awful – flat, uninspired, with the simplest of plots, pathetic, infantile violence, and music as insipid as the events it is underscoring. The acting is terrible with poor old Udo being made to overact abominably. And yes – the mother of tears is eventually despatched by making all her clothes fall off. Christ this is bad. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.182.234 |
I'd feared this would be the case, Lord P. It sounds as though old Dario just doesn't have it in him any more to make a really effective film of the same calibre as INFERNO, DEEP RED or SUSPIRIA. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.159.156.247 |
Sadly this comes as no surprise... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.249.146 |
What Mick said. :-( | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.185.60 |
Oh dear. I'm halfway through watching this and honestly don't know whether to bother with the rest of it. As Lord P said above, this is flat, uninspired, infantile. I don't know if Argento has simply lost it completely, or whether this is all a big joke he's playing on us (the film often seems to verge on unintentional comedy, of a deliriously unfunny sort). There's no atmosphere, no suspense to speak of, the acting and dialogue are laughable at best, and, perhaps worst of all, it doesn't even possess a smidgeon of the cinematic flair that has managed to help elevate some of his lesser movies. Some of the most embarrassingly bad parts come when we are treated to random bits of violence (gibbering thugs smashing cars, women throwing babies off bridges, an entourage of ridiculous-looking goth wannabees who try to show how unspeakably evil they are by glaring and cackling at passersby) that are supposed to signal the degeneration of society. It's horrible all right, but not in the way Argento obviously intended. This truly is cringe-inducing stuff. I'm going to watch [Rec] or CLOVERFIELD again to remind myself that good films are being made. | ||
| John_l_probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 90.208.214.11 |
Stop now, Huw! There are so many more worthy films out there. For example, I recently bought a very cheap DVD of Ed Wood's 'Bride of the Monster'. On the back it says that because of the poor condition of the source print there 'may be some loss in quality'. Surely an impossibility? |